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CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

That is a ‘land’ was peaceful annals know,

nor famine fierce, nor wasting plague,

nor ravage of the foe

- Thiruvalluvar

(Translated by G.U. Pope)

The dictum of the divine Poet Thiruvalluvar picturises the prosperous state where famine, incurable diseases and ravage of foe are completely unheard of. The Government of Tamil Nadu exemplifies this principle in its governance. It is to eliminate the dreaded problem of hunger, this Government issued its first order while taking charge of the Government during 2006 for supplying rice at the rate of Rs.2 per Kg. through Public Distribution System to all the card holders. Thus, Tamil Nadu is the first state in India to issue rice at such a reduced rate under Public Distribution System in the whole of India. This initiative taken by the state of Tamil Nadu is being emulated by other states now.

The following are the objectives of the Food and Consumer Protection department :-

(1) To ensure that supply of foodgrains and other essential commodities are accessible at an affordable rate to all needy families as a measure of complete food security.

(2) To protect the interest of consumers and create awareness among the public about consumer rights.

It is important that the public distribution system should ensure adequate availability at an affordable rate. The public distribution system in Tamil Nadu is a unique system in the country. It is a universal coverage system based on choice of people. Ration cards are issued to all the families irrespective of their income level and essential commodities issued as per choice and eligibility. Rice is supplied at Rs.2 per Kg., which is much lower than the BPL price of Rs.5.65 fixed by the Government of India under targeted public distribution system. It is pertinent to mention that because of the universal public distribution system in Tamil Nadu, the foodgrain prices has stabilized over a long time. Of late, experts have raised an alarm about impending global food shortage and increasing pressure on global supply of food grains due to climatic change. Therefore, Government has to take swift and effective measures in the coming days to augment and maintain supply of adequate quantity of rice under Public Distribution System to protect the interest of poor and vulnerable people.

As a path breaking measure to curtail rising prices of essential commodities like dhall and edible oil and also to provide nutrition security including proteins and vitamins, this Government launched a special scheme w.e.f. 14.4.2007, wherein toor dhall, blackgram, palmoil are distributed at prices lower than the market prices. At present under the scheme fortified atta is also supplied. Tamil Nadu is the first State to initiate such measures to control prices and provide nutrition security through supply of dhall, oil and fortified atta at a subsidized rates under Public Distribution System, so that the poor are not deprived of any of these vital nutrients. This effort benefits the poor and downtrodden people by enabling them to purchase these items at affordable prices and insulate themselves against price rise.

The volume of Public distribution system rice distribution is massive. As a consequence, prevention of diversion is a very challenging task, more so as the incentive for diversion is quite high. The Government is relentlessly pursuing severe action against culprits indulging in diversion of Public distribution system commodities. It is pertinent to mention that various studies conducted by the Government of India and independent agencies have placed the State of Tamil Nadu as one of the top most amongst States, which ensure quality of delivery under public distribution system measured in terms of availability, accessibility, affordability and consumer satisfaction. Programme Evaluation Organisation of Union Planning Commission in its evaluation report has classified Tamil Nadu under the category ‘low’ in terms of leakage.

Promotion of consumer welfare is another thrust area of this department. There has been increased awareness of consumer rights in recent years. Government is taking all efforts to create awareness through camps and workshops with the help of Voluntary Consumer Organisations on the exploitative nature of traders and manufacturers, besides guiding them to safeguard themselves against such tendencies. The Government’s objective is thus to create awareness among public and consumers to protect them against exploitation.